Lady Spartans nail down first victory

After an 0-4 start, the Richmond Lady Spartans took all the suspense out of their first victory for the 2008-09 basketball season Monday night. Richmond never trailed and pulled away from Trenton on the way to a 39-26 victory in the opening game of the NCMC Holiday Shootout at the Ketcham Community Center.
Each team traded baskets in the early going in an 8-8 deadlock. Richmond scored 8 of the last 9 points in the first quarter and never looked back. Lady Spartan Coach David Littrell, who added a few freshmen to his roster for the weekend, was pleased with his team’s performance on both ends of the court.
“I thought the girls did a nice job of controlling the tempo of the game,” he said. “Our sub rotation gave us some valuable relief minutes. Haley (Padgett) did a nice job helping out on the inside. We showed a lot of patience with our offense. I was impressed with how we worked through the options in our offensive sets.”
Padgett did not score, but grabbed 6 rebounds and also came up with 3 steals. Sophomore guard Kayla Hewitt scored a season-high 17 points to pace the Richmond scoring, with Baylyn Jennings adding 9. Also scoring for the Lady Spartans were Whitney Martens with 6, Hannah Alpers with 3, while Chelsea Hook and Stephanie Williams chipped in 2 apiece.
Trenton did not have anyone reach double figures. Lindsey Derry led the way with 8, with Rebekah Capeder adding 6 for the Lady Bulldogs.
After taking a 15-9 lead into the second quarter, Richmond slowly pulled away as the Lady Spartans opened a 21-13 advantage with 3 minutes remaining in the half, and held a 23-15 lead at the intermission. Richmond put the game away in the third quarter as the Lady Spartans opened the second half with a 10-0 run, before Trenton got its only field goal of the third quarter with 17 seconds left.
The Lady Spartans played Braymer this afternoon.
PHOTO: Richmond’s Hannah Alpers dives for a loose ball in Monday night’s win over Trenton in the NCMC Holiday Shootout. (Photo by Russ Green/The Daily News)